Studio Teaching

Introduction

Teaching design through project work has been a central feature of most architecture and landscape education for over a century. Learning occurs, through a process of ‘learning by doing’ often informally through the interaction of students (and staff) within a design studio, where students share ideas and learn collaboratively. In her book Architecture, the story of practice, Dana Cuff argued that a good ‘studio culture’ can incite good students to set the pace for their peers. Teachers of architecture often consider those students who choose not work within the collaborative ‘hothouse’ of the design studio to be at a disadvantage when compared to their peers.

Nevertheless, the traditional model of design studio teaching is difficult to sustain: partly a result of rising student numbers and changing patterns of part-time employment for students. Advances in communications and information technology makes it possible to design and collaborate at distance. Furthermore, recent reports from the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), the RIBA, and CABE suggest that common elements of studio culture, particularly the tendency for students to work long hours and the often adversarial ‘crit’, are unhealthy, educationally disadvantageous and inhibit the formation of a diverse population of professionals by discriminating against particular societal groups.

Historic Background

The idea of the design studio as a form of collaborative learning was first developed in 19th century France by students of the Ecole de Beaux Arts. The school’s formal activities, consisted largely of theoretical lectures and the setting of monthly design competitions but there was little opportunity for design tuition. To rectify this, students independently established workshops (or ateliers in French), inviting and paying qualified architects to assist them with their design work. This system has continued into the 20th century, initially within the offices of architects, for instance the atelier of Le Corbusier, subsequently within schools of art and design, and more latterly within schools of architecture in universities and technical colleges.

Schools of architecture adopt different models of how learning within a design studio might occur. In some situations (the year system), students from a single cohort will all work on the same project, within a shared studio environment. In other situations (the unit or atelier system) students from across a number of cohorts may work together in a similar way to the Beaux Arts ateliers. This enables the sharing of expertise from experienced to inexperienced, usually under the guidance of a ‘unit master’; a teacher of architecture, possibly also working in architectural practice, who will impart his or her expertise onto the student’s design work.